vicemag:

Meet Sohel Rana, the Most Hated Man in Bangladesh 

Mayday in Bangladesh: “The serenity of Jurain graveyard seems more than other days on Wednesday as 32 workers whose bodies remained unclaimed made their final journey,” is how the local Daily Star described it.

And now begins the sideshow. It’s much more engaging than the main event, it must be said. Yesterday, theNew York Times’ Jim Yardley, who has been excellent on the subject of labor abuses in Bangladesh, delivered a short and amazing profile of Sohel Rana, the 35-year-old owner of Rana Plaza, the massive factory outside Dhaka which collapsed last week, killing at least 400 workers.

Rana appears to be typical of a certain type of Bangladeshi garment magnate: crass, vulgar, nouveau-riche, and involved in equal measure in organized crime and high politics. He rode with his entourage on motorcycles, he’s accused of dealing in guns and drugs, he seized the land where he and his father built Rana Plaza from small landowners by force and through illegal paperwork, and he was protected by corrupt officials.

He was involved in the youth league of the governing Awami League. Which, to put it mildly, is not quite the same thing as being involved in the Young Republicans. The youth wings of the national parties in Bangladesh often function as nothing more than massive gangs: the two main parties are crony organizations at the top and depend in large part on intimidation and politics-at-the-end-of-a-brickbat at the bottom. Every few months or so they call “general strikes” to protest this or that policy or as a pure show of force—the country largely shuts down and any unlucky auto-rickshaw driver caught violating the strike risks a beating or murder.

Continue

washingtonpoststyle:

papermag:

Yes, yes, we do.

We heard Chickpeas is great in this.

(via theatlantic)

(via knitpearls)

muirgilsdream:

May Pole dance in daisy field.

Happy May Day

(via basquavita)

Wise.

(via katerpotater)

vjeranski:

Resist dyed felt, Indigo dye Japan Late 19th/ early 20th Century

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50 Shades of Grey (via kaley)

omg ew wat

(via basquavita)

Erghhhhhhhhh.

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guardian:

Thousands of steam-punks and goths flocked to the North Yorkshire seaside town to attend gigs and events. Liam Murray attends the Whitby Goth Weekend festival, which is in its 19th year. The 19-year-old festival has ballooned since its beginnings as a gathering of penpals who met via NME magazine. For more pictures see our gallery of images from the weekend.

Photograph: Nigel Roddis/ Reuters

 

(via reuterspictures)

(via knitpearls)

usnatarchives:

The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret Southern society that sought to establish a slave-holding empire in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.

Join us on Wednesday, May 1, at noon as author David C. Keehn provides the first comprehensive analysis of the society and how they carried out clandestine actions to support the southern cause. Even with the war all but lost, various Knights supported one of its members, John Wilkes Booth, in his plot to assassinate President Lincoln.

(If you aren’t in DC, you can watch line on our Ustream channel. The program will also be archived later on that page.)

The public program is free and will be held in the National Archives in Washington, DC. Enter through the Special Events door on Constitution and Seventh.

A book signing will follow the program.

katerpotater:

lizlemming:

I want more young Meryl. I NEED more young Meryl.

I concur.

SUMMER OF YOUNG MERYL!!

katerpotater:

I GOT AN APARTMENT! 

Thanks for your help, everyone. You guys are awesome. I GET THE KEYS TODAY! :) :) :)

Shit, that was fast. Yay! A room of yer own!

Hi, from the woods!! (at Cable Bay Trail)

compendium-of-beasts:

Proboscis monkey, Nasalis larvatus. (1850)

NYPL